A man who operated an Atlanta sex trafficking ring and bound victims with duct tape to hold them captive will spend the rest of his life in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell sentenced Soloman Manasseh Mustafa on Wednesday following his July conviction by a jury, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said.
“This defendant brutally assaulted young women and forced them into acts of prostitution in three states,” Yates said in an emailed statement. “Many of the victims were beaten, raped, handcuffed and forced to snort cocaine by the defendant and his co-conspirator.”
Mustafa’s co-conspirator, Kalandra Annette Wallace, pleaded guilty on Oct. 11 and was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Mustafa, 38, of Stone Mountain, and Wallace, 25, of Jonesboro, enticed young women through Internet websites and lured them into prostitution in the Atlanta area, according to trial evidence. When the women began working for the pair, the victims were physically and sexually assaulted.
Victims involved in the sex trafficking were forced to have sex, inhale cocaine and handcuffed to a bed, according to evidence in the trial, Yates said. Mustafa also attempted to recruit a 14-year-old as a sex slave, but later let her go near her home.
The FBI, GBI and several metro Atlanta police departments assisted in the investigation.
About the Author
